Emberizidae

Emberizidae is a family of seed-eating passerine birds with distinctively finch-like bills. In Europe, most species are called buntings. The New World genera formerly considered part of this family are now placed in their own family, Passerellidae. Some other New World genera have been reassigned to the tanager family, Thraupidae.

It was hypothesized that the family Emberizidae may have originated in South America and spread first into North America before crossing into eastern Asia and continuing to move west.[1] However, a DNA sequence-based study of passerines concluded emberizids spread from North to South America.[2] However, all the New World emberizids have been placed in other families.

As with several other passerine families, the taxonomic treatment of this family's members is currently in a state of flux. Many genera in South and Central America are, in fact, more closely related to several different tanagerclades.[3][4][5]

Contents

Emberizids are small birds, typically around 15 cm in length, with finch-like bills and nine primary feathers. They live in a variety of habitats, including woodland, brush, marsh, and grassland. They tend to have brown-streaked plumage. Many species have distinctive head patterns.

Their diet consists mainly of seeds, but may be supplemented with insects, especially when feeding their young.[6]

The habits of emberizids are similar to those of finches, with which they sometimes used to be grouped. Older sources may place some emberizids in the Fringillidae family, and the common names of some emberizids still refer to them as finches. With a few exceptions, emberizids build cup-shaped nests from grasses and other plant fibres, and are monogamous.[6]

The relationships of these birds with other groups within the huge nine-primaried oscine assemblage are at this point largely unresolved. Indeed, relationships within the Emberizidae as defined here are uncertain with the possibility that each of the three main groups may not be all that closely related.